Excellence in
Content Knowledge.
Although I haven't done as much in terms of Professional Development for British Literature as I would like (see other sections for more specifics on EN IV/British Literature content knowledge), one of the things I have enjoyed most about my second year at Meridian High School is becoming the Newspaper sponsor and being able to expand my content knowledge for English. I have great basic English credentials (ACT, Praxis, undergraduate degree), and I even worked for the Mississippi State student newspaper during my time there (see very inconsequential award below). In addition to this prior knowledge, I worked on my English content knowledge and my skills developing curriculum and teaching during summer school during my first summer of MTC (see below).
After all of this prep, I felt like I was doing good my first year to just teach one subject and be at school every day. My second year, however, I had the opportunity to take over the school's student newspaper, The Wildcat, and to teach a journalism class in addition to English IV (click image below to be directed to our website -- shameless plug). I took this as an opportunity to expand my content knowledge not just for English but also for journalism, and I'm glad I did.
I was chosen to be the sponsor kind of out of nepotism and partly because I was an editor at the Mississippi State University student newspaper, The Reflector. My old Meridian High mentor, Mrs. W, was the journalism/tech-guru who bequeathed the newspaper to me upon her departure at the end of last year. At the time, I thought, "How hard could this be? All I've got to do is have the students write articles and post onto a simple website." What I would realize in August, however, was that I didn't have a clue how to teach students how to write journalism, and it took many hours of Googling strategies, emailing with the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association coordinator (all praise, R.J.!), and desperate cries for help to Mrs. W before I could really call myself a sponsor.
Thankfully, I joined the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association over my second MTC summer with the hope that they would be able to give me some guidance, and I was right! The MSPA is the "I Ching" of high school newspaper and publication support. I started out by attending a conference during the summer of 2016 that got me prepared (or better prepared) to be the sole sponsor of an online newspaper publication this school year (see certificate left). They taught me about how much responsibility a student newspaper has and how liable the staff is for recording the news of the school and community. They taught me to be careful in what we publish, but also to have fun.
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To say I was overwhelmed in the beginning would be an understatement. I didn't know how to teach journalism or what the students would expect from me. The newspaper had been run by a ten-year veteran and technology wizard before me, and the students had to apply to join the staff and class under her high standards last year. They showed up in August, met me, and I'm sure were highly disappointed. I hardly knew how to log in to the website for the newspaper. All I knew to do was start with the basics, and start with what I already knew: AP style, organization, ethics, and style (see below lesson plan). By using my content knowledge, I was able to pass along good skills to my students, and we built off of these skills all year until my students were comfortable writing stories, interviewing sources, and going out in the field for pictures and quotes.
The Wildcat newspaper students slay at the MSPA Fall Conference.
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As part of the MSPA, my class was invited to two conferences for high school journalism students this school year, and both times that we went, the students and I learned a lot about journalism ethics, photography, layout, interviewing, and other newspaper topics. It was so good for them to network with other journalism students (revel in their own nerdiness), and it was amazing for me to collaborate and share with other sponsors who could help me grow as a sponsor. The professional development I received at these conferences and the summer conference for advisors and sponsors gave me the confidence to continue with the newspaper and try to give my students a journalistic voice, and we wound up with a fantastic website of which we are truly proud.
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During the second semester of this course, my journalism students wrote a series of feature stories that fit the theme #IamMeridian, and the results were fantastic. After my instruction on feature stories, they each selected a community or school member that really exemplified what it means to be "Meridian." To the right is a sample from the beginning of one of my student's stories for this series. I was so impressed by this student's work, but overall impressed that my students learned so much from what we have learned in this class so far this year. The changes in their writing are noticable, as are the changes in my teaching skills.
They'll always be #1 to me.
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As my first year as newspaper sponsor comes to a close, I realize all the changes I have made in this one area just since the beginning of the school year. At the beginning of the year, I didn't even know how to instruct my students how to write a feature story, and my content knowledge had to advance to keep up with them. I had perfect scores on the English portions of the ACT, a perfect score on the English Praxis exam, and a 3.97 Undergraduate GPA in English from Mississippi State, but I still *thought* I couldn't teach an advanced journalism class. At the end of this school year at the MSPA Spring Conference at Ole Miss, our newspaper entered competition for Best Website, Best Social Media Presence, and Best Overall Publication, and we took home a finalist position for Best Website (see left). My content knowledge grew, and their knowledge and confidence grew. These changes are good.
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During this semester's parent-teacher conferences, the mom of a journalism student came by to check on her daughter's behavior and grade in the newspaper class. Her daughter, mind you, is an exceptionally bright tenth grader who has truly been a joy to teach. On her way out, she commented, "You know every day 'M' comes home talking about newspaper class and how much she likes working with you and the other kids in that class." To hear a parent say this about the class that I was most nervous about -- the class that I felt I wasn't qualified to teach -- means the world to me. Am I qualified? Yes. Is it still terrifying every day that they let me run my own classroom? Absolutely.